1969
Alaska Highway #1 was designated the Bluestar Memorial Highway by Governor Keith Miller.
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27
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1868
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An Act of Congress was approved, making Alaska a U.S. Customs District.
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1959
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Deputy U.S. Marshalls and State Police opened a drive against B-girls in Anchorage as they arrested 10 men and 24 women under a new state law prohibiting the hiring of females to induce patrons to buy drinks.
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1974
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Recreation fees of $1 per campsite went into effect at most campgrounds in the Chugach National Forest.
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28
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1929
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Alaska Airways, represented by Colonel Ben Eielson , purchased the entire stock of the Bennett-Rodebaugh Airplane Company.
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1939
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill to provide protection for Ketchikan's water supply by setting aside an 8,600 acre water supply reserve near the city.
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1949
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The Canadian Department of National Revenue established a cash deposit requirement of $342 for any Alaska Highway traveller using a car built before 1940. This was to eliminate abandonment of old cars along the highway.
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1977
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At 11:02 p.m., the first oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields reached Valdez, after travelling the 798 miles of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
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29
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1900
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The last rail for the White Pass and Yukon Railroad was laid, connecting Skagway and Whitehorse .
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1948
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Two Argentinian brothers piled their bikes into a jeep purchased for $550 and headed out of Fairbanks. It had taken them 2 years to bicycle from Buenos Aires.
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1959
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Buell Nesbett of Anchorage was named Chief Justice of the newly formed Alaska Supreme Court. Walter J. Hodge of Nome and John Dimond of Juneau were named Associate Justices of the 3-person court.
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1968
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While a Dutch clairvoyant and a Kenai dowser were looking 100 miles in the wrong direction, bush pilot Mort Clement found a lost plane near Simpson Pass, earning a $3000 reward.
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30
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1926
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Members of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce voted unanimously against a change to Seattle time.
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1959
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Alaska's first automated car wash opened in Anchorage.
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1969
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Governor Keith Miller said that penalties against foreign fishing vessels apprehended in Alaskan waters "have been far below a deterrent level."
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31
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1869
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The Yukon reached Fort Yukon, the first steamboat to go up the river.
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1938
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Mining operations ceased at the Kennecott Mine where thousands of dollars worth of copper had been produced since 1911.
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1969
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The Commissioner of Public Safety, responding to complaints about the influx of "hippies" into Alaska, urged residents to be more tolerant of young people.
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August
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1
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1910
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Alaska was created as a separate Lighthouse District, the 16th, with Ketchikan as its headquarters.
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1956
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The cornerstone was laid for the new $2 million Juneau-Douglas High School.
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1964
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Outhouses were outlawed in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, as all residences were required to connect to city water and sewer lines.
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1968
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Several hundred reindeer stopped all airplane traffic at the Nome airport. Herders had to drive the caribou the full length of the runway to get them back in the tundra.
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1969
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The Anchorage department store chain which began as Caribou Pete's in 1951 officially became part of the Montgomery Ward chain.
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1977
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The first tanker load of Alaskan oil from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields left the Port of Valdez aboard the ARCO Juneau.
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1979
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The Alaska Department of Transportation completed an $800,000 study on the feasibility of connecting the Alaska Railroad with the Lower 48. Although it never did, the Alaska Railroad remains the northernmost railroad in North America.
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2
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1869
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William H. Seward , former Secretary of State, arrived in Sitka on his Alaska visit.
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1939
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The Anchorage Womens' Club announced that high-heeled shoes would be banned from the City Lawn and the Strawberry Festival.
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1969
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The first sea otter, moved from Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, arrived at its new home on the Washington coast. The otters were being moved because of pending nuclear tests.
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1973
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The U.S. House of Representatives voted 356-60 calling for immediate construction of the 798-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
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3
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1784
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The first Russian colony in Alaska was established on Kodiak Island.
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1870
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The first lease of the Pribilof Islands was signed by the Alaska Commercial Company and the U.S. Treasury Department.
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1879
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Alaska's first Presbyterian Church was dedicated at Wrangell .
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1908
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The first automobile in Fairbanks arrived, a Pope-Toledo, for a Mr. David Laite.
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1959
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The last stragglers of the second group of Michigan 59'ers homesteaders arrived in Willow , undecided as to whether to join the Detroit 59'ers in the Susitna Valley near Talkeetna, or to find another settlement.
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1959
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Anchorage police were asked to be on the lookout for an escaped goose with an unfriendly disposition.
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4
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1921
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The road to the Mendenhall Glacier was completed, making it the most accessible glacier in Alaska.
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1959
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A group of dancers from Point Hope visited Anchorage for the first time and danced at the Alaska Crippled Childrens' Association "Gilded Cage" benefit.
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1969
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The tapping of Long Lake for the Snettisham Power Project near Juneau was completed. A dam to raise the level of the lake remained to be built.
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1972
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The Ketchikan International Airport was officially dedicated. Including a 7,500 ft. runway, the costs topped $12 million.
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5
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1881
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Boyd Presbyterian Church was established in Hoonah by Reverend Sheldon Jackson.
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1893
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The St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Juneau was completed.
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1923
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The Northbird, Alaska's first commercial airplane, crashed near Ketchikan .
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1949
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Alaska Airlines was fined $60,000 for contempt of court when it violated an injunction against operating between Alaska and the United States. The suit was filed by Pacific Northern Airlines, Northwest Airlines, American Airways, and the Civil Aeronautics Board.
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1959
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Georgia-Pacific Alaska announced tentative plans for a newsprint paper pulp mill in Juneau.
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1969
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Alaska's drunk driving implied consent law went into effect, requiring drivers to submit to a breathalizer test if suspected of driving under the influence.
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6
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1886
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Some 60 Chinese were expelled from Juneau and Douglas and sent to Wrangell in small sailboats.
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1904
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The first message was passed on the wireless link from St. Michael to Port Safety. This final link established Nome's first communications to the outside. From St. Michael, messages could be sent via telegraph to Canada and the southern states.
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1939
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The Alaska Steamship Company freighter, Depere, hit a rock in Wrangell Narrows during thick fog and strong tides. It was patched and escorted south.
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1969
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The city of Nome announced its intention of suing the state of Alaska for unpaid property taxes.
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1970
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Chugach State Park was established.
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1979
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A special session of the Alaska State Legislature was convened by Governor Jay Hammond to deal with state employee contract bills.
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7
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1887
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The American flag was raised at Metlakatla , Alaska by migrants from Metlakatla, British Columbia.
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1897
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William L. Distin was appointed the first Surveyor General of Alaska.
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1938
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The first test flight of the Pan American amphibian from Seattle to Ketchikan and Juneau landed on the Mendenhall Flats in the capital city. The flight lasted 8 hours and 20 minutes.
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1959
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Alaska inaugurated its first state Court System as Buell Nesbett and John Dimond took office as Justices of the Alaska Supreme Court. Later that year, Walter Hodges also took office.
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1969
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Nearly half of the 29 Alaskan sea otters transplanted to the Washington coast from pending nuclear testing areas on Amchitka Island died after less than a week in their new home.
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1989
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In the Northwest Territories, today is celebrated as Civic Day.
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8
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1939
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill authorizing the Department of the Interior to sell timber and mineral products from lands in Alaska reserved for educational purposes.
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1947
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President Harry Truman signed the Tongass Timber Bill.
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1949
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The U.S. Department of the Interior ruled that the Federal Government had control of Alaska's tidelands as long as Alaska remained a territory.
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1959
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Two U.S. Air Force F-100 jet planes landed at Eielson Air Force Base, after having come 5,400 miles non-stop from England, in the first flight by jets over the North Pole. Just prior to landing, a moose had to be shoved off the runway.
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1962
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The Diocese of Fairbanks was established.
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1979
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The Alaska Legislature adjourned its special session after approving pay raises for state employees.
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9
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1940
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The first personnel arrived at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage aboard a B-10 bomber.
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1944
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried, unsuccessfully, to catch salmon off Aaron Island in Southeast Alaska as he stopped off secretly on his way back from an inspection of the Aleutian Islands.
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1958
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Mike Stepovich , the last governor of the Territory of Alaska, resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. He lost to Ernest Gruening.
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1969
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The world's second natural gas liquification plant was dedicated at Kenai. The plant was a joint venture between Phillips Petroleum and Marathon Oil Company.
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